Back in
July, a cab company in Cleveland made me miss train 48 back to Buffalo and in
order to get home in time, I had to take a Greyhound Bus instead. I began planning
this trip before I even arrived home from that adventure. I decided to wait
until September, once my department at Wal-Mart wasn’t so busy.

After some research, my plan was to
fly to Cleveland on September 17, spend a night in a different hotel much
closer to the Amtrak station, then the next day, get a ride to the Amtrak
station with a different cab company and ride Amtrak train 48 to Buffalo, then
catch train 63 to Toronto. The trip unfolded as follows.

September 17, 2007:

I got down to Toronto’s Pearson
International airport around 6:45 am. My flight was to leave at 9:10 am.
Interestingly enough as I arrived, guess what I saw? Air Canada’s 65th
anniversary plane. Just like the last three trips I’ve flown, I’ve seen that
plane! However, I didn’t get a photo of it this time.

My mom dropped me off at Terminal
1, as I was once again flying on Air Canada. This time, I would be on a flight
operated by Air Canada Jazz, which is Air Canada’s commuter airline.

I would come to see I needed a lot
of the extra time to check in as there were long lineups for the check in
counter and to go through Customs. At Terminal 1, there are two customs lines
for U.S. bound travelers. One line was for Canadian citizens and one line for
American citizens. However the Canadian citizen line was longer. When I finally
got to the customs, the agent asked why I was flying one way and taking the
train home. When I told him, he was alright with was I was doing. I offered to
show him my Amtrak tickets, but he said he didn’t need to see them. This just
goes to show how anal that one agent was back when I rode the Maple Leaf on my
Arizona Make-up trip last year. The agent at the airport then stamped my
passport and I went and dropped off my suitcase at the checked baggage drop off.

I then went through security and
got through with no problem, though once again, I had to take off my shoes. I
then went to a store in the terminal and bought myself a bottle of Coke.

My ticket said I was boarding at
gate 254. To get to that gate, I had to take a bus down to a mini-terminal
located outside of the now demolished Terminal 2. I got on the bus and we drove past several Air Canada planes
and an Airbus A319 from the Mexican airline Mexicana. I took some photos of
some of the aircraft.

The bus dropped me off at the
mini-terminal. I saw lots of turboprop planes as well as a couple small jet
aircraft operated by Air Canada Jazz. I still had plenty of time before my
plane boarded. While waiting for my plane to board, I took a photo of Terminal
2 being demolished.

My plane started boarding shortly
after 8:45 am. I walked outside and photographed my plane which was a De
Havilland Canada Dash 8-100. I took a photo of the plane.

This would be the first time I had ever
flown on a turboprop aircraft as all other times I’ve flown, I’ve flown on
jets. Because the plane was small,
passengers were told to put all carry-on baggage bigger than a laptop on the
sky-cart which I did. I took my seat and studied the emergency evacuation card.

The plane was almost full, though
there were a few empty seats. The plane left on time and I filmed the takeoff
and as the plane climbed into the sky. From the plane, I saw an eastbound GO
Transit commuter train. We were soon flying over Lake Ontario and then over the
Niagara Peninsula. Soon, we were flying over Lake Erie. From the plane, I saw
some cargo ships.

Soon, we were approaching
Cleveland. I took some photos of the airport from the plane.

As the plane began its approach, I
filmed the landing gear going down and the landing. Soon, we were parked and we were allowed off the plane.
We had arrived 10 minutes early. I retrieved my carry on from the sky-cart
before I took two more photos of the plane and headed to the baggage claim.

Shortly after I got to the baggage
claim, they started bringing out the suitcases and my suitcase was one of the
first to emerge. I then headed to catch a Red Line RTA train. I bought a day
pass before I headed onto the platform
and photographed the RTA train at the station.

After the train left the airport, I
phoned home. A little while later, I got off at Tower City. I took a picture of
the train I rode then filmed it leaving. I then photographed a two-car train on
a pocket track in the station.

I then went
upstairs and caught a route 6 bus to my hotel; the Days Inn and Suites on
Euclid Avenue. This hotel is much closer to the Amtrak station, and only a few
dollars more expensive. When I got
to the public square, I noticed a lot of roadwork being done. After I rode to
my hotel, I found out what was being done. They were building private bus lanes
on Euclid Avenue.

Back home, VIVA is planning to do
something similar on Yonge Street, but some people are protesting, wanting the
TTC to extend the subway north. I
first found out about the protest last spring when the receptionist at my
dentist asked me to sign a petition (which I didn’t.) These NIMBY’s are
protesting because the work to build the private bus lanes would rip up Yonge
Street, and prevent people turning left from Yonge onto smaller streets like my
dentist office. Right now, it isn’t exactly easy to turn left anyway. One other
thing these NIMBY’s don’t seen to realize is if they had there way and a subway
extension was built, the street would have to be torn up anyway, for a lot
longer and the cost of the subway is much more than building the private bus
lanes.

Once I got off the bus and walked
over to my hotel, I saw a taxi pass by owned by the same company that made me
miss train #48 last time. “Boooo!” I shouted.

I then got to the lobby of my hotel
and checked in. I saw in the parking lot that they had some shuttle vans. I
asked the desk clerk if the shuttle vans would take me to the Amtrak station.
She told me no and offered to give me the number of a taxi company. I then told
her about how the taxi company had made me miss the train last time and even
insulted me, so the clerk gave me a telephone number for a company called
Yellow Cab. Back in July, when the taxi didn’t show up to take me to the Amtrak
station, I phoned Yellow cab for a taxi, but before it could come, the original
cab came 40 minutes late, so I cancelled my request to Yellow cab.

Once I got to my room, I phoned
Yellow cab and requested a taxi to pick me up at 6:00 am the next morning. I
then headed back to Tower City on the bus and had lunch in the food court.
After lunch, I headed to the RTA station to take a Waterfront train. I decided
to try to photograph the ex CA&E interurbans belonging to the Lake Shore
Electric Railway (formerly Trolleyville USA). I snapped one dark picture, then
filmed in inbound green line train before I went back to snap some better
photos of the interurbans. Just then, an RTA employee asked what I was doing
and when I gave her an honest answer, she told me I needed permission and gave
me a phone number to call. I called and after being transferred twice and
missed the next waterfront train, I was finally allowed to take three photos. I
did just that before the employee who first asked me told me she had to go. She
then offered to let me take a fourth photo, but I declined. At least they
weren’t too anal about it. Here are the pictures I took.

I then caught the next Waterfront
train which came 15 minutes later. I got off and photographed a NS freight.

I then walked over to the walked to
the Great Lakes Science Centre.

I then paid my admission and bought
a ticket for the showing of “Hurricane in the Bayou” in the IMAX Theatre. That
is where I lost my baseball hat 10 years ago on my school trip. This time, I
made sure I wouldn’t lose another hat there.

The movie had its moments; awhile
ago, I learned that Hurricane Katrina could have been worse for New Orleans if
it had been a little further west. I didn’t understand how until I learned that
the eye of Katrina missed New Orleans, and the winds outside the eye are the
worst of any hurricane.

After the show, I looked around the
exhibits, taking some photos.

I then went out onto a balcony and snapped
a photo of the William G. Mather, which I visited on my last trip to Cleveland.

I went back inside and went to the
transportation exhibit downstairs. I photographed the O-scale train that runs
around on a track which has a drawbridge you can raise. I also photographed an
exhibit on how Maglev trains work.

I then
looked around for a couple more minutes before I went to a simulator of landing
the space shuttle. Interestingly enough the shuttle you would be landing was
the ill-fated Columbia which disintegrated on reentry on February 1, 2003
killing the crew. I tried the exhibit and just like last time, I ended up
crashing, but not on purpose!

I looked at the gift shop before I
walked over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next door. My friend Greg and
some other people recommended I visit, though I had visited on my school trip
10 years earlier. As I got there, I saw another cab from the taxi company that
made me miss the Lakeshore Limited last time. I booed again. I then took a
picture of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Johnny Cash’s tour bus still
parked in front.

I went inside and paid admission.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a no photography rule, so I checked my
camera at the coat check. I explored the museum. At one point, I saw a film
about the start of Rock and Roll because it implied there was a train in it.
After the film was over, I left the theatre, thinking I would go back into the main hall, when I walked into a
second theatre and saw a continuation of the film! It was like something out of
the Simpsons!

After the movie was over, I looked
around at many of the exhibits and visited the gift shop. However, I didn’t buy
anything because nothing said, “buy me!” I then retrieved my camera and left.

I decided to walk over to the
William G. Mather to see if it was open, when I got there, I found out it was
not open on Mondays in September. I took a photo of the ship.

I noticed there was a large stick
in the Mather’s bow thrusters. Nearby, I could see the building where most of
Trolleyville USA’s fleet is kept including ex Toronto PCC #4602. Like the
Mather, the display building was closed, but there was a banner hanging out
front for the Lake Shore Electric Railway.

I then walked back to the RTA station,
and noticed in the change machine a lot of quarters. I looked for my pass and
found I had lost it! I ended up paying the fare for the RTA and bought a new
pass at Tower City. After I stepped off the train at Tower City, I took a photo
of it.

After I bought another day pass, I
walked up to catch the route 19 bus. While waiting for my bus, I took some
photos of other RTA buses.

RTA RTS #9761.

The route
19 bus came and I boarded an RTS similar to #9761 above. I rode to a White
Castle which I saw on my last visit to Cleveland, but not the same one I ate at
on my last night there. After dinner, I caught a bus back to the rapid transit
system. I filmed a two-car red line train as it headed towards the airport. I
then rode another red line train past the RTA yard. As we passed the yard, I
filmed it. When I got off, I looked for my day pass and realized I had lost it
again! I paid my fare when the next red line train arrived and rode to Tower
City. As we passed where the interurbans from Trolleyville were stored, I
filmed them. After I got off, I walked upstairs and took a ride on the E-line
trolley.

The E-line
trolley is basically a Dennis SLF-200 painted green and has a “bell” on the
roof and is supposed to look like a trolley car. The fare was free though and I
took a ride before I got off and took some photos of the bus.

I then
caught an RTA Nova LFS on route 6 back to my hotel. I phoned home to check in
when my cell phone ran out of money. I added $40 to my account and phoned my
parents back.

To avoid
any problems with the Yellow cab the next morning, I gave them a call and asked
if I was still set. I asked them to ensure the cab would be on time. They told me
if there was a delay, I’d get a call 15 minutes before the time I requested.
After, I arranged for a wake up call at 5:30 am. I watched a bit of TV. At one
point, I saw on CNN that Britney Spears would be paying her ex-husband alimony
and the headline also read, “A victory for men”! I eventually called it a
night.

September 18, 2007:

I got up at
5:35 am, oversleeping by 5 minutes, but I was still able to get ready in time.
I waited until 5:45 am before I left. Since I didn’t get a call from Yellow cab,
I assumed everything was still alright and I headed down to the lobby and
checked out. I then waited in the lobby. I called Julie to find out the status
of 48 and found it was on time. Since the train moved to its new schedule, I
found it’s been pretty good at timekeeping between Chicago and Cleveland.

6:00 am
came, but no cab came. I went outside to look, but there was no sign of a taxi.
Five minutes passed, then six. I went outside, but there was no sign of a cab
anywhere. It was at this moment that a terrible sense of deja-vu descended upon
me. It was all too familiar like what happened on my last trip to Cleveland. I
went back inside and was about to call Yellow Cab, when they phoned my hotel.
The desk clerk answered the phone and once he hung up, he told me the cab went
to the wrong hotel, but would show up in four minutes.

When the
cab finally came, it was 10-14 minutes late. The driver said they had gone to
the Comfort Inn even though I had told them I was at the Days Inn and Suites!
I could understand if they were at another Days Inn since they have 5-7
locations in the Cleveland area. I seem to have a way with taxis for some
reason.

They took
me over to the Amtrak station. I got there at 6:22 am. Train 48 was already at
the station. However, I still had plenty of time as train 48 was to depart at
7:00 am. I paid for my taxi and ran into the station. The conductor took my
ticket in the station, and I headed out onto the platform and boarded the
train. Before I boarded, I took two photos.

I was
seated in Amfleet 2 coach #25039, a refurbished coach with a blue and white
interior, digital display boards and AC outlets by the seats. The coach was
pretty full, and I had an aisle seat. While waiting, I saw an RTA waterfront
train pass the station. I also saw a van that appeared to be operated by the
taxi company that made me miss 48 the last time.

The
Lakeshore Limited departed on time. Shortly after it left, I went to have
breakfast in the dining car. On my way to the diner, I passed through the café
car which was an Amfleet 2 café car that was refurbished for diner-lite service
on the Cardinal. However, we had a Temoinsa refurbished
diner. I sat down for breakfast. I was seated with a couple from Albany who
were on their way home from a trip to Arizona in the Grand Canyon, not like
what I did in 2006. They said the Lakeshore was better than the Southwest
Chief.

I had the
continental breakfast, and when I was pouring milk onto my cereal, the train
hit a rough spot causing me to spill the milk on my croissant.
The waiter then gave me another croissant. After breakfast, I paid for my meal
and went back to my seat. I didn’t stay there too long. I went to the café car
and took some photos of the interior.

I
bought some milk from the café car and sat at one of the tables. I stayed in
the café car as we stopped in Erie, Pennsylvania. As we left, I filmed the
General Electric locomotive plant as we went past. At one point, we passed a
museum with ex Chicago, South Shore, and South Bend “Little Joe” electric #802,
but I was unable to film the museum. A little while later, I filmed a smaller
museum that had former NKP 2-8-4 #755.
Throughout this part, I went between the café car, and my coach. I walked
through the two coaches behind mine to see if they were refurbished or not.
Three of the four Amfleet 2 coaches were refurbished, and the last car of the
train was unrefurbished.

At
one point, I went back to the café car and phoned Julie to find out what time
the train was due into Buffalo-Depew station. Julie said we’d arrive at 10:21
am; 26 minutes late. However, that wasn’t the case. When 10:21 came, we were
nowhere close to Depew station.

Soon,
we passed through Angola, New York. A little while later, we were approaching
Buffalo. This would be the first time I would have gotten off 48 at Depew
without there being snow on the ground as the past three times I’ve ridden 48
were either in winter or right after a freak snowstorm in October! Since I
boarded train 63 at Buffalo-Exchange Street on my last trip, that time doesn’t
count.

Soon, we
passed over a drawbridge and soon, we passed the freight yard and the old
Buffalo Central terminal before arriving into Buffalo-Depew station 45 minutes
late. Once I got off, I walked to the end of the station and photographed the
train.

I waited
for train 48 to depart. While waiting, I saw a kid and his father also looking
at the train. When train 48 departed, I filmed the 10 car train pulling out
without running out of memory on my digital camera’s memory stick like the time
I rode the Three Rivers back in 2005. I then photographed the rear of #48 and a
westbound CSX intermodel.

I then
called Julie to find out the status of train 63. I found out it was running 3
minutes late. I then phoned home and let my dad know I was in Buffalo. When I
told him about the cab being 10 minutes late, he said I had a way with taxis.

I had at
least four and a half hours to kill, so I took a taxi to the Niagara Central
hobby shop about a mile away. The cab driver was unsure where to go, so I
pointed it out to him since I had been there in the past. When it came time to
turn onto Union Road, we did, but we had to get over, but an 18-wheeler was
blocking us, so we had to wait. When we did change lanes, a road-rager yelled
at us. I resisted the urge to give him the finger and we arrived at the hobby
store. I paid the fare and went inside the store where I left my stuff at the
counter and looked around. I noticed they had a camera pointing out at the CSX
main behind the store where I had just come in. I eventually bought an HO scale
model of a BNSF GP38. I then went outside and photographed the former Erie
caboose in the parking lot before I went inside it and looked around.

After I was
done looking around the caboose, I walked over to a nearby Subway restaurant
for lunch. After lunch, I began my walk back to the Amtrak station. When I was
almost there, I was fortunate enough to catch a route 6 bus back to the
station. I boarded the New Flyer D40 and rode the rest of the way, getting
dropped off right in front of the station. Once I got there, I then called
Julie to find out the status of 63 and found it was still running three minutes
late. I had plenty of time left.

Shortly
after I got onto the platform, I westbound CSX intermodel passed by on the
closest track. I photographed it.

As the
freight train passed, the breeze it created was almost like air conditioning as
it was pretty humid out. After the last car had passed by, they made an
announcement that train 64 had just left Buffalo Exchange Street station five
minutes late and would arrive in about 10 minutes. About ten minutes later, I
saw a headlight down the tracks. At first, I thought it was 64, but it was
really a freight train stopped down the line. An announcement came that 64 was
delayed because of a problem it experienced outside of Buffalo-Exchange Street
station. I would later find out that the train was experiencing engine
problems.

I turned my
attention to the Norfolk Southern
line west of the station. I only learned the line was there when I was stranded
at Buffalo Depew station back in October after Buffalo
was hit by a freak snowstorm which knocked out power to the area. I saw a
couple freights throughout the time I spent at Depew and
I photographed or filmed a couple of them.

Back on the
CSX line, another westbound intermodel passed before I photographed a work
train being led by two SD40-2s.

After awhile,
one more westbound intermodel passed. Meanwhile, I saw a girl and her mother
who were waiting their grandma to arrive on train 63 were on the platform, and
the girl and her mother were writing down things they had seen. I walked up and
told them that they could put “delayed passengers” on the list!

Some point later, an announcement
was made that Amtrak train 64 was finally on its way and would be arriving in
10 minutes. I was unsure if the Amtrak locomotive had been fixed or if any CSX
diesels were leading the still broken down Amtrak unit. However, when the train
arrived, it was being led by P42 #67, so the unit had been fixed. As the train
arrived, I filmed it pulling into the station before I repositioned and took a
photo of the train.

A few minutes later, the train
departed 1 hour and 53 minutes late. I filmed the train pulling out. I then
called Julie and found out train 63 would be a little more than an hour late.

A westbound merchandise freight
passed the station. The train had four units including an HLCX lease unit that
appeared to be painted in Florida East Coast colours. I took a couple photos of
the train.

A little while later, an eastbound
coal train passed which I also photographed.

After both freight trains left,
train 63 soon arrived running 67 minutes late. As it pulled in, I filmed it. I
noticed that instead of a 48000 series café car, which has business class seats
at one end, I saw the train had Amfleet 1 coach #44968 which appeared to be an
economy class coach for business class travelers as well as a café car in the
43000 series that has tables at both ends. I filmed the train pulling in.

After passengers had detrained, it
was time to board. I was seated in Amfleet 2 coach #25071. The coach was semi-refurbished
with a blue and beige interior, old style signs at the ends of the car, and no
AC outlets. I would find out the car in front was unrefurbished. The coach
right behind my car was refurbished, but locked. I had no idea if the car at
the rear of the train was refurbished or not. The train soon left.

We passed the old Buffalo Central
terminal and soon stopped at Buffalo Exchange Street.
When we left, I was given a card to fill out for customs. Once I filled it out,
passengers were told the café car was closed until we cleared the boarder.

The train stopped at Niagara
Falls, New York. Passengers
continuing on to Canada
were allowed to step out for a few minutes. I stepped out and took some photos
of the train.

I got back on the train and we soon
left. I noticed that they had figured they could do away with U.S.
customs checking the Canada
bound train.

The train crossed into Canada,
but when we arrived at Niagara Falls, Ontario,
the Canadian customs didn’t come on for several minutes, unless they were
checking the business class passengers and the train crew first. When they
finally came on board, the person who interviewed me was thankfully nowhere as
anal as the customs agent who interviewed me on my “Arizona Make-up trip” last
October.

Soon, the inspection was over and
the train departed. Apparently, we were now running five minutes late. I then
went to the café car and bought dinner. I then phoned home and let my dad know
I was back in Canada.

Before we got to St. Catherines,
the train stopped to let a ship pass under the drawbridge over the WellandCanal. A person sitting across from
me was telling a couple from England
about how one time he was on the New York
bound Maple Leaf that stopped to let a ship pass through the drawbridge. Instead
of stopping, the train backed up for 10+ minutes back to the St. Catherines
station!

Soon, the bridge was lowered and we
were allowed to continue. The train stopped at St. Catherines. As we left, I
saw the St. Catherines Transit bus garage with some retired Classics out back.
The train continued on before it stopped at Grimsby.

Between Grimsby
and Aldershot, VIA train 95 passed us. I was hoping to
film it, but I was unable to. We passed a freight yard near Hamilton
and I filmed some Rail America diesels parked.

The train stopped at Aldershot.
It felt good to be back in GO Transit territory again. We soon left and stopped
at Oakville. While we were at Oakville,
I filmed VIA train #79 bound for Windsor.
After we left Oakville, the sun
went down. As we passed VIA’s Toronto Maintenance Centre, I saw six ex-Metra
cars that had been stored there since 2003 after CN derailed them while they
were being moved to Montreal in the process of being scrapped. We soon arrived
into Toronto Union Station a mere 15 minutes late. Once I got off the train, I
walked to the end of the platform and photographed the train.

I then headed downstairs and phoned
home. I then headed to the subway where I rode a class H-5 subway train to
Finch. When I got back to street level, I saw York Region Transit New Flyer
D40LF #611, which is the first bus to be in YRT’s new livery pull into the
regional terminal. I soon found my dad and we headed home.

Conclusions:

Aside from the circumstances that led
me to the trip, and the little run in with RTA security at Tower City, this
trip was great. I finally rode the Lakeshore since it moved to its new
schedule. With the successful completion of this trip, I can now officially say
my Washington-Cleveland trip which I’ve been planning since 2004 is now over.
As for now, I don’t plan to go to Cleveland until the Lakeshore Electric
Railway is fully up and running and I can once again ride PCC 4602, but that
won’t happen for years. Even though the cab I took to the train station was 10
minutes late because they went to the wrong hotel, Yellow Cab is by far the
lesser of two evils compared to the cab company I used last time.

If you’re still wondering what cab
company made me miss the Lakeshore Limited last time, I’ll give you a hint. If
you look at the report, you’ll see some bolded letters in the middle of the
word. The bolded letters will spell out the name of the lousy taxi company that
made me miss the Lakeshore Limited back in July.

I was impressed by how much time
the Maple Leaf made up. We would have been into Union station sooner if we
didn’t have to let a ship pass under the drawbridge. The way the train was made
up could have been better with a refurbished Amfleet 2 coach actually being
opened, but I was able to make due. My ride on the plane was also uneventful.

This could be the last time I ride
the Maple Leaf. A few months earlier, a rumor started on the Canadian Passenger
Rail Yahoo group that CN may abandon the bridge the Maple Leaf uses to cross
into the U.S. Should that happen, Amtrak will either have to buy the line,
reroute the Maple Leaf. What could also happen is that Amtrak stops running the
Maple Leaf and in its place, have a Niagara Falls, New York-New York City train
and VIA would take over the Toronto-Niagara Falls, Ontario portion using their
own equipment. If that happens, I’ll try to take a “Farewell to the Maple Leaf”
trip. However, that won’t happen until early May of 2008, when the abandonment
is supposed to go through.

This was also the last time I would
ride the Lakeshore Limited with a Heritage diner. A few weeks later, the train
began running with an Amfleet 2 “Diner-lite” car in place of a diner and a
Horizon fleet café car.

As for now, I don’t have any more
trips planned for 2007. We’ll just have to see. Until
next time…